A report

by the

American "Newsweek" stated that China has warned that the invasion of Ukraine has become a matter of "life or death" for Russian President Vladimir Putin, and that withdrawing from the war is not one of his options.

Another report by the magazine said that a former adviser to Putin threatened Moscow's use of nuclear weapons in the first 20 seconds of an interview with the BBC on Wednesday.

The report indicated that Hu Xijin, the former editor-in-chief of the Global Times newspaper - which is supervised by the ruling Communist Party in China - wrote an article in which he stressed that the United States and the West are determined to defeat Russia, while Putin sees no choice in front of him but victory.

existential struggle for Putin

In other words, "this struggle is existential for Putin, a life-and-death struggle," Chigin wrote.

Shegin called on Russia and NATO to "not intimidate or confuse the other side," adding that it is very likely that the clash of wills will reach a specific point, at which point it is possible to use all available means to the victory of the side that uses them, saying that Russia's position as a nuclear power must be taken. taken into account in any decisions the West makes.

"When the war turns into a life-and-death struggle and the West wants to win the final victory, it needs to overcome the confidence and strength that nuclear weapons gave Russia," he said.

Ukraine's successful attack does not mean its victory

Shegin added that Ukraine's successful counterattack does not mean that it can reshape the outcome of the war.

He called for a cease-fire and negotiations instead of the growing confrontation between Russia and NATO, describing everyone who tries to beat the other side as "crazy".


The magazine published another

report

in which it said that former Putin adviser Sergei Markov appeared on the BBC's "Today" program, threatening nuclear war, in the first 20 seconds of the interview.

Preparing to strike some western countries with nuclear weapons

Markov said that Putin indicated in his speech on Tuesday that he would be ready to use nuclear weapons against some countries, including nuclear weapons against Great Britain.

Justin Webb, the show's host, stepped in to ask Markov if he thought Putin's speech contained a "clear threat" to "start a general nuclear war that would kill everyone," to which Markov replied, "Not everyone," but that "it would kill a lot of people in Western countries."

He said that Russia had no reason to use nuclear weapons against Ukrainians, "Ukrainians are our brothers", adding that Ukraine is "occupied by Western countries", saying that those countries have created a "proxy army" and use Ukrainian soldiers as their "slaves".

Markov added that this nuclear war would be the result of the behavior of "the crazy president of the United States, Joe Biden, and the prime ministers of Great Britain, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss."

Immediate response from the British Foreign Office

In turn, British Foreign Office official Gillian Keegan - who appeared on the show immediately after Markov - said that Markov's comments "were most of Putin's lies, a complete rewriting of history, and a little rattle of swords."

"Talking about a nuclear war is very unhelpful, and we would like to urge calm, it's a serious threat but one that has been launched before," Keegan added.